Obama’s Favorability Ratings are Cumulative

            President Obama has hit his personal all-time low in favorability ratings this week.  The low ratings are a reflection of pent up demand.  For too long, Americans have been giving him the benefit of the doubt.  Finally, his performance is being seen in the perspective that it deserves – incompetence.

Oprah Winfrey claims that his plummeting ratings are a result of racist Americans.  It is a shame that Ms. Winfrey did not state her view of the racist America years ago.  Had she done so, she would not have been made a billionaire by white Americans – and her current comments about race in America would not have been covered by the media.  Yes, Ms. Winfrey, there are still racists in America and there always will be.  However, America in general has out grown racism. Your enormous wealth and Mr. Obama’s presidency are clear examples of this truth.

The first indication of incompetence appeared during the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  The President stood by and watched the BP management team handle what was an abomination of crisis management.  The President loves to appoint Czars for many things, but while the BP oil spill dragged on and on, he did nothing.  If ever there was a time to appoint a general or admiral to take over a disaster, the BP oil spill was it.  Unfortunately, the President does not manage proactively.

In the past year, he as stated the following:

·         He heard about the IRS discrimination scandal in the same news reports that the rest of America receives.   The President did not know anything about it and was astounded to learn of the issue.

·         The Benghazi attack was caused by a spontaneous reaction to a hideous video.  It was NOT a preplanned terrorist attack.  The President stuck to this story for weeks while the media told Americans that it was a preplanned terrorist attack.  The President “did not know” has become a standard line for all controversial issues. 

·         Subsequent news reports on Benghazi informed America that people inside the administration knew that the attack was coming.  Yet, the President did not fire anyone for not telling him.  You cannot state “I did not know” and not take actions to correct you ignorance.  By not taking action, you set yourself up for more “I did not knows.”

·         The President “did not know” about the Justice Department’s fast and furious program that flooded the illicit gun dealing market with firearms that, by design of the program, made their way to Mexican drug cartels.  It was not the intentional design of the program, but an unintended consequence was that a border control agent was killed with one of the guns our government placed into circulation.  No one was fired for not informing the President.

·         The President “did not know” about the Justice Department’s wire taping of American journalists.  Nor was anyone fired.

·         The President “did not know” that our fallen military men were not receiving their death benefits during the government shutdown.  Once he did know, he did nothing about it.

·         The President “did not know” that the NSA was spying on American citizens.

·         The President “did not know” that the NSA was spying on the leaders of our allies.

·         During the Republican caused shutdown, the administration went out of its way to make the shutdown more painful than it should have been.  Open air monuments in Washington, DC were shutdown at a cost greater than the cost of keeping the monuments open.  The President did nothing about this.

All of the above “I did not knows” and lack of corrective actions were taken in stride by the American public.  A majority of Americans gave the President the benefit of doubt (maybe he really did not know).  Many thought that the President was incompetent but that he was well intended and therefore he maintained his positive favorability ratings.

Things have changed. The President has stated that he “did not know’ about crucial elements of his own law; Obamacare.

The President did not know that millions of Americans would have their existing health insurance plans cancelled as a result of the new law.  At first, the administration said that those plans were substandard and that the Americans that had those plans would be much better off with a new plan obtained through the Healthcare.gov website.  This story line appears to say: We knew it – but we also knew it was better for those Americans losing their substandard plans.  Once the President became aware that Americans do not like being spoken to in condescending tones, the President blamed the insurance companies.  Then Americans learned that the new law forced the insurance companies to cancel the plans.  Finally, the President (almost) apologized.  The President never said he knew that the plans would be cancelled; even though several interviews with the President’s advisors indicated that the cancellations were part of the overall Obamacare plan to get more people onto the new exchange for risk sharing purposes.  Rather, the President said that the following:

“I am sorry that they, you know, are finding themselves in this situation, based on assurances they got from me.  We’ve got to work hard to make sure that they know we hear them and that we’re going to do everything we can to deal with folks who find themselves in a tough position as a consequence of this.”

The above apology does not indicate the President knew that the cancellations were going to happen.  In fact, prior to this inadequate apology, the President asserted that there was a grandfather clause in the Obamacare law that allowed the cancelled plans to remain in place.  Of course the media educated Americans that the grandfather clause was so strictly written and then supplemented with regulations that no plan could actually qualify for grandfathering.  Somehow, on the President’s signature achievement, he “did not know” that cancellations were coming to millions of Americans.  This “I did not know” was tough to swallow for most Americans.

Not to worry about the cancellations.  The President was going to fix it.  His fix consisted of politely requesting the insurance companies to reissue the cancelled plans (in violation of federal law) for one year.  First of all, one year does not keep the promise the President made.  Secondly, the President “did not know” that his polite request was almost impossible for the insurance companies to carry out on such little notice.  Americans knew his fix was too little, too late.  And, Americans did not view this charade of a fix as well intended.

Then there was the blunders of all blunders; the Healthcare.gov website.  The President claimed that he “did not know” that it was going to crash and burn upon launch.  Then the media uncovered an internal White House email that stated that there were concerns that the website would in fact crash and burn upon its launch.  The email was written one week before the launch.  The email was not between junior staffers.  It was the discussions of senior staffers.  Why did they not tell the President?  Why hasn’t the President fired them for not telling him?

The President’s incompetence has been tolerated for a long time.  In private business, such incompetence would never have been tolerated.  In private business, the CEO is responsible to know (or should have known) about monumental issues facing the organization.  Americans did not apply this rule to the President of the United States because people thought he was well intended – AND (contrary to Ms. Winfrey’s assertions) because people wanted him to be successful.  Now Americans are feeling the reality of Obamacare and they are not sure that the law is well intended.  The cover story of this week’s edition of Time magazine is “Broken Promise.”  I have not yet read the story but I assume it is about the President’s promise that: “If you like your health care plan you can keep it. Period.  If you like your doctors, you can keep them. Period.”  The President made this promise numerous times during his campaigning for reelection and while he was selling the Obamacare law to Americans.  The article may (as I said, I have not read it yet) also be about the broken promise of Mr. Obama’s presidency.  America was longing for a true statesman, a uniting force; someone that could fix Washington.  America now realizes that the promise that was created about Mr. Obama’s presidency was a fallacy.  Yes, Mr. Obama can deliver a great speech – but he cannot manage his way out of a paper bag.  Worse yet he has become the Chief Excuse Officer – “he did not know” and when he finds out, he does nothing.

True CEO’s do know.  When they are surprised, someone gets fired.  Before becoming President, Mr. Obama has held positions of teacher, community organizer, state senator, and United States senator.  Has he ever had to fire someone?  It is very unlikely.  He may truly “not know” that firing people is a part of being a strong leader and manager.

The President’s unfavorable ratings were a long time in the making.  It will be a long time for them to recover – if it is even possible now.  People do not like to be burned more than once and if you count all the “I didn’t knows” and the lack of corrective actions; the President is well beyond his limit of good faith.

Note to Ms. Winfrey: I am not a racist but a concerned American that believes that I have a constitutional right to express my views without being called a racist.